New York City

Manhattan - Financial center of the city where numerous companies' offices are located, Manhattan has towering skycrapers and bright lights but despite coming off as very commerical it still has its own distinct culture with neighborhoods like Harlem or The Village. Incase you didn't know Manhattan is an island and one of the 5 boroughs that make up NYC. Since Manhttan is very long and narrow it is usually divided into downtown, midtown, and uptown when you talking about going somewhere. Manhattan has around 1.6 million people living in it right now. Many people refer to Manhattan as the city or NYC because originally Manhttan was the only NYC before they added the other 4 boroughs. Personally I love Manhattan whether its walking in Times Square with the flashing lights or smelling the delicous scent of fried chicken from one of Harlem's restaurants you know your in New York. Brooklyn - Famous for being home to many rappers, Jay-Z, Lil Mamma, Biggie Smalls, and more, and being home to the Brookyln accent. Brooklyn has around 2.5 million people living in it right now. Brooklyn has the 3rd largest financial district in NYC and even thought its part of NYC it is very much its own city with its own style and personality. Brookyln is home to immigrants from all over the world, including Italy, China, Poland, Jamaica, Haiti, and more. Well known for ghetto neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy or Brownsville, Brooklyn has many nice neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights or Bensonhurst and has popular tourtist attractions like Astroland in its neighborhood Coney Island. The Bronx- Well known for being hood or tough, the Bronx is home to around 1.3 million people. While its true the Bronx has dangerous neighborhoods like Soundview or The South Bronx, it is also home to pretty affluent neighborhodos like Riverdale or Throgg's Neck. The Bronx is home to rapper Fat Joe, actress/singer Jeniffer Lopez, and John Gotti late mafia crime boss. Also it has produced widly successful people like Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klien. The Bronx is unique in the fact that it is the only borough located on mainland (Manhattan and Staten are Islands and Brooklyn and Queens are located on western Long Island). Over 30% of The Bronx is below the poverty line and it is starting to see the affects of urban decay. Despite some of its problems The Bronx has many claims to fame such as being home to the one and only NY Yankees. They are creating a new stadium for the Yankees in the South Bronx which is hoped to help boost the local economy. Queens - Like every other borough Queens has its fair share of ghettos and nice neighborhoods. Jamicia, Queens is probablly one of the borough's most dangerous neighborhoods if the not the whole city's. Queens also has middle class to upepr middle class neighborhoods like Whitestone or Bayside. Queens has around 2.2 million people living in it and is home to a diverse mix of Italians, Russians, Blacks, West Indians, Asians, and Hispanics. Queens is also home to the MLB team the NY Mets. If Queens was its own city it would be the 5th largest in the United States, it is the second most populated borough after Brooklyn. Like all of NY Queens is home to plenty of famous people like rapper 50 cent, female rapper Lil Kim, and the rap group A Tribe Called Quest. Staten Island - Often called the forgotten borough because many people overlook it. Staten Island has around 400,000 people making it the least populated borough by far. Despite it's lack of population Staten Island makes up for with delicous Italian food and the famous rap group the Wu-Tang Clan. Staten Island is often stereotyped as being home to "only" Italians. While its true that Staten Island is around 45% Italian its not okay to call Italian people "guidos" and they take great offense to that, just as much as a black person would to the n word. Famous for the Staten Island accent and one of the largest dumps in the world Staten Island is unfairly stereotyped alot. Not everyone talks with that accent and the garbage dump on accounts for a very small portion of the island. The North Shore of Staten Island has many different ethnic groups and tends to be middle class to lower middle class while the south shore is mostly Italian and tends to be upper middle class to upper class. A project being developed in Staten Island is to make a huge park, one that will be much bigger than Central Park in Mannhattan. Overall NYC is great. It has its areas for the tourists like Times Square, its class rich areas like the Upper East side in Manhattan and Todt hill on Staten Island and plenty of ghettos like Soundview or Bed-Stuy to scare out of towners who talk shit about New York. Many people try to compare other cities to NY but thats stupid, you either love or hate NY but NYC is 8 million people strong and isnt going anywhere.